Can you take fat burners with the lap band?

[ctaylor 0]

My question is can you take fat burners with the lap band? What are the effects they have on the band? Are the pills too big to take and what do you do then? I took metabadrine and lost 60 lbs a couple of years ago. Then, I had to get my gallbladder removed so i stopped taking it and eventually gained all the weight back. It worked as long as I took it but now its harder to get the stuff with efedrine in it. There is one site that sells it. Please share your experiences with me. Thanks, Christi

[DBAGuy 0]

With my lapband, I'm only eating between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of food per meal, 3 meals per day. I have to push to get 1000 calories/day.

If you use the thumb rule, you multiply your weight by 12 (men) or 11 (women) to get a rough idea of how many calories you need to sustain your current weight. For me, that's about 3500 calories. Now, another thumb rule is that 'shorting' myself 500 calories a day is equivalent to losing a pound a week. So, needing 3500 calories and only getting 1000 is 'shorting' myself by 2500 calories...divide that by 500 and I should lose around 5 pounds/week. I'm not going to take any diet pills, because 5 pounds/week is pretty fast weight loss if you're not under weekly medical supervision.

Also, I realize this is unsolicited advice, but I'd be very careful about any ephedrine-based products. While they do work for temporary weight loss, it is effectively similar to taking speed...all it does is speed up your metabolism (heart rate, respiration, etc.) which means you consume more of everything...not just fat. With the lap band in place, and working with such few calories, there is a chance that you will lose muscle tissue along with fat (that's why most programs want you using Protein supplements). Most programs also want you to increase your base metabolism through exercise, which provides other benefits, such as cardio-pulmonary health, builds muscle mass, etc. Ephedrine provides none of the other benefits...just increases your metabolism.

It is possible that, with reducing the caloric intake by that amount, exercising and taking ephedrine, the body my incur undue stress. I'm not a medical professional, but I'd take a hard look at research and talk with my doctor/nutritionist before I'd go taking ephedrine post-lapband.

[tonya66 13]

I do take a fat burner - I take Thermogenics by EAS. It is Ephedra free, I take it 5 days a week 1 hour before I exercise. Not sure if it works, but I'm down 70 lbs. I have no problems taking the large capsules.

[ctaylor 0]

Sunshine2 where do you get Thermogenics and how much does it cost?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I just started taking Fyre. I have to admit, I really like it. It is Ephedrine free and I can go a lot longer on my treadmill. I don't use it daily, probably once every week or two when I'm being a slug. I really like it but I can't take more than one at a time. It's a horse pill but dissolves quickly and easily. I have no problems with it.

Syntrax Fyre

[TracyinKS 7]

Interesting thread........ thanks everyone!

I'm off to refill my Water glass

[tonya66 13]

Sunshine2 where do you get Thermogenics and how much does it cost?

I buy mine off of Ebay - I found them cheaper. You can also buy them directly from EAS. Or, most of the local health food stores/viatamin shops have them.

I bought 3 bottles for around $50 from Ebay, otherwise, I believe they are around $30 per bottle.

[tonya66 13]

The actual name is ThermoDynamx which is a thermogenic (fat burner). It makes me sweat a lot more, I do notice that. Here is a link for a few bottles on Ebay.

eBay - thermodynamx items on eBay.com=

[DBAGuy 0]

FYI: The FTC levied fines against several 'fat burner' products because of false or misleading advertising, or having inadequate scientific evidence to back their claims. These included Trimspa, CortiSlim, and Xenadriine FX. All three of those advertised themselves as fat burners.

FTC Fines Weight Loss Pill Firms $25M - washingtonpost.com

I did a search for independent research studies that supported the idea that fat burners work for long-term weight loss and came up empty...lots of the product sites cited research, but not many had links, and they all seemed to lack independence and peer review. I did find studies that supported the fact that some supplements can cause a short-term increase in metabolism. (always be wary when a research study is paid for either directly or through a grant from the company making the product being researched...)

Don't disagree that fat burners 'up' your metabolism, but...if you're bumping your metabolism artificially (i.e., not be exercise), then you have to keep taking the supplements in order for it to stay that high, right? If you stop taking them, your metabolism goes back to whatever it is naturally.

Here's a link to a letter from the FDA to Tim Patterson, CEO of Biotest Laboratories, LLC (maker of Fahrenheit) warning them about claims of one of their other products: http://www.fda.gov/cder/warn/cyber/2005/CL160e.pdf

Interesting that one 'serving' of Thermodynamx had 199 mg of caffeine...compare that to a 12 oz. can of Mountain Dew, which has only 55 mg of caffeine. If the other, herbal ingredients give you so much energy, why do they have the equivalent of 3.5 cans of Mountain dew in each serving (they say to take 2-3 capsules twice daily...that's a lot of caffeine!!!)

Syntrax Fyre is more careul on their label, but the second product (means the second most by amount) is: "coffee bean extract (standardized for 99% Caffeine)"

Fahrenheit's label is also careful about listing caffeine content, but it does list caffeine as the second ingredient. Hmmm...maybe I misread the label on the other website. This one: Fahrenheit - Fat loss for women says one dose of Fahrenheit has 750 mg of caffeine!!!

Again...if the herbs are so effective at raising metabolism and burning fat, why all the caffeine? Caffeine is rough on the stomach (my surgeon recommends avoiding it after surgery) and is physically addictive (I'm ex-navy submarines...I know what its like to go off caffeine).

Not saying anyone's wrong, all I'm saying is...good to have your eyes wide open when getting into the herbal supplement market...

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

DBAGuy...

I agree with you whole heartedly. It isn't really a great idea to take this stuff. I don't agree with advertising that claims Fyre or any of the other products are actually fat burners. But on days that I'm being a slug and don't want to run I take one of them and suddenly (due to caffeine, I'm sure) I want to run around the block 40 times. I probably take it once every week or two. I wouldn't WANT to take it daily, since I don't live on Diet Coke anymore I'm no longer used to the caffeine and it's a bit strong for me.

So I don't take it to burn fat, I take it to give me the desire to go burn fat myself.

[Alsgyrl 0]

I am cosigning with what everyone has said, but along with my daily workout, and 1000 calorie diet, I drink 2 cups of this infusium wu long tea my mom ordered for me off the internet. Oprah endorses it and uses it, and it really does work...I lost 3lbs in 2 days drinking it....Its like a black tea, but taste like a stronger version of green tea. It cant be bought in the stores, but any doctor will tell you drinking green tea or chinese herbal teas will increase ur metabolism. I would definitely encourage and recommend that if you need a boost in weight loss.